Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A friendly reenactment

Confederate and Union forces participate in competition

Nat Holland El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

Civil War reenactors met as Confederate and Union forces in a friendly live-fire competition at the Socorro Firing Range on Saturday, Jan. 19.

The better represented Union forces prevailed in all of the events, a reversal from last year when the confederates seemed to have the upper hand.

Pvt. Fred Fox, of the New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, shot an amazingly accurate 84-XXX to win the rifle shooting competition — the X's represent three bullseye shots. Capt. Larry Pope, of the Texas Volunteer Infantry, shot a 73 to take second place.

"A good part of it is luck," said Dick Cochran, of the Texas Volunteer Infantry, who finished third with a score of 69. "Back in the old days marksmanship was highly prized (because of limited supplies). The winner was often given the (tree) stump as a prize."

Winning a stump that was used as a target meant the shoot could recover the valuable lead buried in the wood to fashion new bullets.

"The Confederates were always low on ammo reserves," Charles Mandeville added.

Pvt. Mike Fox, of the New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, shot a 46-X to win the pistol shooting competition, followed by Fred Fox with a 43-X.

Captain Don Shoemaker, also of the New Mexico Volunteer Infantry, won the Captain's Cup with a score of 83. In the Captain's Cup the competitors are given four shots with a rifle, and six rounds with a revolver. Also competing were Capt. Russ Schneider and.

The Artillery Company of New Mexico also participated in the live-fire using a 3-inch ordinance rifle. The Artillery Company designs and builds their own rounds for their small cannon, which was originally a deck gun on a naval vessel.

Eight rounds of solid shot were fired at a target 200 yards away, with 50 percent tactical accuracy. The rounds that missed were all within 5 feet of the target.

One round of canister shot was used for a demonstration against a group of set-up infantry targets.

The canister, which contained about 65-75 round balls that spread out similar to a shotgun blast, hit all of the targets in the very effective demonstration.

Competition is only part of the reason for the live fire, the other half is a chance to get together and plan for future events, such as the various events that will make up the Battle for Socorro, Friday through Sunday, February 29-March 2.

And during the downtime, there is plenty of jawing about historical events and stories.

Mandeville, who helps organize much of the local reenactment events, desires to make people more aware of the New Mexico campaign during the Civil War.

"Twenty years ago, no one back East had heard of the Battle of Valverde," said Mandeville.

Due in part to the success of Socorro's Battle for Socorro, word has spread and many more people know about the New Mexico theater of the Civil War, at least in reenactor circles., according to Mandeville.

"As a reenactor I've traveled to events all over the country. I've seen how much effort it is to put on a comfortable, accurate event. It is to pay back those people that I decided to do something here," Mandeville said.

Mandeville has also helped work on two recent PBS documentaries. A documentary on the Long Walk of the Navajos has aired in Utah, and is expected to be distributed to PBS stations around the country in the near future. A second documentary on the life of Kit Carson is expected to air sometime in February.

Both were filmed on the Field Ranch located on the Alamo Reservation, owned by Jim Nance. The ranch has is an ideal location for shooting authentic documentaries, according to Mandeville, because of it is intentionally rustic and avoids modern contrivances, such as barbed wire.

Mandeville encourages people to search back to see how they are connected to Socorro's history.

nholland@dchieftain.com

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